updated 10:20 am EDT, Tue August 5, 2008

Moto ROKR EM Series

Motorola today made a more aggresive leap into music phones with three mid-range ROKR phones, all of which are based on Motorola's more recent Linux-based operating system. The EM30 is based closely on the same dynamic interface as the ROKR E8 and illuminates different buttons depending on the context, swapping in media controls to make navigation easier but without the expense of a touchscreen. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, native integration with Windows Media Player 11 for those not using other operating systems, and microSDHC card support for storage of 8GB or more.

A 2-megapixel camera and FM radio will also come with the EM30 when it ships; it should be available very soon for Taiwan but supports quad-band GSM calls and EDGE data, with a launch in North America and other areas expected later in the summer.

Two more economic phones accompany the EM30. The EM28 clamshell and EM25 slider scale back to a 1.3-megapixel camera and a maximum 2GB of microSD storage and also drop WMA audio support. Both still keep a 3.5mm headphone jack, AAC/MP3 support, and an FM radio, while the EM28 has an external LCD. The EM28 and EM25 are limited to tri-band and dual-band GSM/EDGE respectively but will each come with the necessary 850MHz support for North America, pointing to a release in the area when they ship later in the summer.